Native Americans populated the Lowcountry 3,000 to 4,000 years ago. Above is the Moll's 1715 map of Carolina that shows the Sampa Indians located on land between the Cooper and Wando rivers, and the Wando Indians and Sewel Indian Fort on the east branch of the Wando River. On the map, this branch is labeled Wampancheonee Creek. Archaeologists have yet to locate the Sewel Indian Fort site. The Sewel (Sewee) Indians occupied the East Cooper area when the first Europeans arrived in 1680. By 1699, most of the Wando Indians had succumbed to smallpox and other diseases brought by the Europeans. The Sewee Indians, by 1715, were the only tribe left living along the coast north of Charleston Harbor and numbered around 67 men, women, and children. They were captured in 1716, shipped out of the colony, and sold as slaves. Today, some of the street names in old Mount Pleasant, such as Mataoka Street and Poaugh Lane, reflect this earlier American Indian heritage.
